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Mass Effect (video game) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This may hurt by geek cred to admit, but it's full confession time: until two weeks ago, I'd never played a single game in the Mass Effect series. Not because I've avoided video games. I've played lots of current games. I'll admit to a preference for buying games several months after they come out so I can save money, which is why I waited a year to finally play Civilization V and several months to buy Portal 2. But I also bought Minecraft while it was still in Alpha and will be first in line to pick up the Gods and Kings expansion pack for Civ 5.

But I admit that even for me, a gap of four years is a little embarrassing. A few months ago, when my fellow science blogger Kyle Munkittrick discovered via a Twitter conversation that I'd never played Mass Effect, he was horrified and encouraged me to get it right away. But still I waited.

Then came the controversy over the ending to Mass Effect 3. I've managed to avoid learning the specifics of the actual controversy so I didn't spoil myself, but in my role as Social Media Editor, I could hardly ignore what a big issue it was in the gaming community. After all, the writing here at Forbes on Mass Effect 3 and the growing attention that our great gaming contributors were receiving are what led me to start our @ForbesGames Twitter feed.

The final straw came last week, when Amazon had a bundle pack of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 on sale for 12 bucks. I couldn't resist that. So I bought them, downloaded Mass Effect onto my PC and started playing. I've logged about 20 hours or so playing Mass Effect now, so I thought I'd give some of my initial impressions of the game. I'll keep this up over the next few weeks as I work my way through 1, 2, and 3. For longtime Mass Effect fans, I hope this little series provides some nostalgia for you.

So, first things first: I love the game. I love everything about it. The world building here is incredibly rich, detailed, and well thought out. The graphics are great, and the universe you find yourself in is immense. There's so much to see and do that it's very easy to believe that you're in a big galaxy. The PC controls are intuitive and work well. With most 3rd person games on my PC, I prefer to use my XBox controller - the Assassin's Creed games, for example, are virtually impossible to play with a mouse and keyboard. The Controller isn't an option for the PC version of Mass Effect, but that's okay - the mouse and keyboard controls work great.

The puzzles are challenging, but easy to figure out from context - I haven't had to refer to a walkthru yet because I was stuck at any given point in the game. The variety of side quests allow for a leisurely exploration of the game's universe, which I appreciate a lot. The combat is particularly good. In games like these, I usually hate having to get into fighting mode, but I enjoy it here. It's spaced out enough to not get repetitive, but happens often enough and differently enough that I've had to develop a variety of tactics for different kinds of combat.

And of course, what makes the game absolutely superb is the array of personal and moral choices to make. I'm a gamer from way, way back, and my favorite games when I was a teenager were Sierra's Conquests and Quest For Glory series. Mass Effect reminds me a lot of both of these series - they're worlds where your choices and decisions matter, and shape how the game is played. Right now, I'm playing my Commander Shepard as pretty much the nicest guy in the Universe, but I' m not going to lie - I'm almost certainly going to play through again playing Shepard as a total bastard, just to see what happens.

All in all, without even being close to finishing it yet (I've only completed the Faros mission, and am halfway through Noveria), Mass Effect is already very high up on my list of favorite games. I'll keep writing as I keep playing. In the meantime, I hope you'll excuse me. I've got a rogue Spectre to catch.